SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State hockey program (3-12-2, 2-7-1 CCHA) came away with three points in the CCHA standings after Ethan Langenegger's (Kamloops, B.C.) 41 saves propelled the Lakers to a 3-0 shutout victory over Upper Peninsula rival No. 17 Michigan Tech (10-5-3, 6-4-3 CCHA) on Friday, despite being outshot 41-16.
The Michigan Tech Huskies made an effort early to put the puck on the net, but Lanenegger stood tall to stop them all, foreshadowing the performance that would outdo his first matchup against the Huskies in Houghton on Nov. 11. The offense would then provide some goal support late in the opening period with Benito Posa (Flint, Mich.) slotting home his second goal of the season after being set up by Timo Bakos (Augsburg, Germany) and Dawson Tritt (Spokane, Wash.) at the 16:40 mark.
A few minutes into the second period of action, the Huskies would find themselves outmanned 5-3 after conceding back-to-back penalties to hand the Lakers a prime scoring opportunity, and after using their timeout to settle down and talk things over, Tritt would do just that, finding the back of the net with helpful assists from Jacob Bengtsson (Stockholm, Sweden) and Harrison Roy (Lakeville, Mass.) to double up the lead.
The Defenses would settle in for the remainder of the contest with Langenegger making big save after big save, including back-to-back full-extension stops while his helmet was being dislodged at the end of the second period. With time no longer on their side, the Huskies pulled their goaltender, Blake Pietila, in favor of an extra attacker, but Tritt continued his impressive outing by stealing the puck away and pushing it up to Posa for his second goal of the night on the empty net to ice the game away.
Langenegger earned the win between the pipes with his first shutout of the season and the fourth of his career. Meanwhile, Tritt proved to be a force throughout the evening, earning a point on all three of the Lakers' goals (1G, 2A). Defensively, Langenegger was not the only Laker to make a significant impact as Artyom Borshyov (Vitebsk, Belarus) and Bengtsson took some of the pressure off of their goaltender with four and three blocks, respectively.
The Lakers will be looking for the sweep against the Huskies on Saturday with puck drop scheduled for 6:07 p.m.